NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams became the first people to enter orbit inside Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. Taking off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:52 local time and embarking on a 25-hour flight to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch marks the beginning of NASA-Boeing Starliner crewed test flights.
Wilmore and Williams are also the first to launch on an Atlas V rocket and are experiencing microgravity on their journey to the space station. They will perform a series of test flights during the flight, including manually controlling the Starliner spacecraft.
In addition to the two astronauts, Starliner carries around 345 kg of cargo. After docking the spacecraft with the ISS, Wilmore and Williams will spend about a week at the station before returning to Earth. After the successful test flight, Boeing and NASA will continue working to certify Starliner for long-duration operational missions to the ISS.
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Street: Boeing
